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| schestowitz | https://patentblog.kluweriplaw.com/2023/11/24/beat-weibel-low-quality-patents-harm-european-industry/ | Nov 26 01:31 |
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| -TechBytesBot/#techbytes-patentblog.kluweriplaw.com | Beat Weibel: Low quality patents harm European industry - Kluwer Patent Blog | Nov 26 01:31 | |
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| schestowitz | "concerned examiner | Nov 26 01:33 |
| schestowitz | NOVEMBER 24, 2023 AT 10:07 PM | Nov 26 01:33 |
| schestowitz | The discussion on the quality of patents has been running around for the past 20 years. I suggest the following as an hypothesis for discussion: | Nov 26 01:33 |
| schestowitz | “the management of the EPO wants the quality of patents to be lower.” | Nov 26 01:33 |
| schestowitz | Yes, I know I am provocative. But after so many years, one must wonder whether the continuous lowering of the quality of the EPO is due to incompetence or whether it is actually what the management wants. | Nov 26 01:33 |
| schestowitz | There has been a constant production pressure. There has been a constant lowering of the competencies of the new examiners (it used to be that they were supposed to have some experience in industry…). The complaints of major applicants are met with contempt, as the article shows. | Nov 26 01:33 |
| schestowitz | I think the writing is on the wall. | Nov 26 01:33 |
| schestowitz | REPLY | Nov 26 01:33 |
| schestowitz | Max Drei | Nov 26 01:33 |
| schestowitz | NOVEMBER 25, 2023 AT 11:59 AM | Nov 26 01:33 |
| schestowitz | I read that start-ups complain that: | Nov 26 01:33 |
| schestowitz | “….they are really fed up with the system because there are too many low-quality, invalid patents out in the field they have to deal with.” | Nov 26 01:33 |
| schestowitz | and that BigCorp is equally fed up with “the system”, I ask myself who exactly is it who should get some of the blame for flooding “the system” with thousands of patents covering trivial contributions to the art. | Nov 26 01:33 |
| schestowitz | I prosecute materials and mechanical engineering applications at the EPO for a powerful US-based corporation. I don’t see any great decline in search competence or examination rigour. I think I get exactly the scope the client deserves. | Nov 26 01:33 |
| schestowitz | My client thereby gets a B publication and the right, post-grant, to defend marginal patentability in court. | Nov 26 01:33 |
| schestowitz | What’s the alternative? Is the EPO to refuse every marginal case? What would be the reaction to that, from IPQC? Even louder howls of protest, for sure, both from its BigCorp members and its start-up members. | Nov 26 01:33 |
| schestowitz | Is this what Steve Rowan said? Is this why EPO management declines to engage with IPQC? | Nov 26 01:33 |
| schestowitz | REPLY | Nov 26 01:33 |
| schestowitz | Thinking of it | Nov 26 01:33 |
| schestowitz | NOVEMBER 25, 2023 AT 5:34 PM | Nov 26 01:33 |
| schestowitz | That the quality of the “products” delivered by the office is steadily going down is not surprising. Just a very cursive look at decisions of the boards after appeal on opposition shows the problem. Lots of patents should not have been granted. The search is too summary and examination is also hurried up. | Nov 26 01:33 |
| schestowitz | The problem starts with the search. If the search is messed up, the resulting patent can have little validity. In The Hague, the maxim still seems to apply that only the search is important and the examination is really nothing more than wordplay. A good search is a search which has revealed X documents. There are search reports that only contain either A or X documents. And then the opponent comes up with the relevant document that was | Nov 26 01:33 |
| schestowitz | not found during the original search! It can even be a prior art under Art 54(3) from the applicant/proprietor himself! | Nov 26 01:33 |
| schestowitz | Another aspect that also needs to be discussed is the fact that the EPO carries out about 40% of PCT Chapter 1 searches. The problem of poor searches is not only a problem for Europe, but also a global problem. WIPO does not have the resources and capabilities to scrutinise search results, but caution is also required here. | Nov 26 01:33 |
| schestowitz | The latest action by the Office’s management, regardless of whether it complies with the EPC, is nothing more than a smokescreen designed to reassure the Administrative Council. The office management can then easily claim that it takes quality very seriously and takes appropriate measures. That no time is left to examiners to do the required checks is another oddity. | Nov 26 01:33 |
| schestowitz | Another problem is that very few examiners are still in the office buildings. Under the “Bringing Teams Together” banner, examiners are mainly working from home and contact between examiners has deteriorated. | Nov 26 01:33 |
| schestowitz | This can often be observed in the case of serious procedural violations. The first examiner lets something go and the two other members of the division sign without even batting an eyelid. You can no longer walk down the corridor and discuss the matter with your colleagues because on top of it, there isn’t enough time. | Nov 26 01:33 |
| schestowitz | Although opposition cannot be used directly as a general quality criterion, the decisions of the boards after opposition give a good idea of what the situation can be with patents that have not been opposed." | Nov 26 01:33 |
| *Disconnected (Connection timed out). | Nov 26 02:30 | |
| *Now talking on #techbytes | Nov 26 02:30 | |
| schestowitz | <li> | Nov 26 06:34 |
| schestowitz | <h5><a href="https://tedium.co/2023/11/24/weird-html-hacks-history/"> Weird HTML Hacks </a></h5> | Nov 26 06:34 |
| schestowitz | <blockquote> | Nov 26 06:34 |
| schestowitz | <p> Today in Tedium: As an experienced survivor of the email wars, I have seen many things over the years that should not work, but ultimately pull off unexpected and weird tricks. Some of these are absolutely necessary because of code failures created by larger entities who failed to properly implement proper HTML code, or more egregiously, forced users to create code that was the opposite of ele | Nov 26 06:34 |
| schestowitz | gant, just to get a reasonably desirable result. But some of these hacks were actually brilliant and worth remembering for their sheer inventiveness. After all, we weren’t going to let Internet Explorer get in the way of a good design, right? Today’s Tedium talks about HTML hacks—whether structural or technical—that carried us through at a time when there were no guarantees that our webpages were going to work. We’re listing t | Nov 26 06:34 |
| schestowitz | hem out. Here’s ten. — Ernie @ Tedium </p> | Nov 26 06:34 |
| schestowitz | </blockquote> | Nov 26 06:34 |
| schestowitz | </li> | Nov 26 06:34 |
| -TechBytesBot/#techbytes-tedium.co | 10 Weird HTML Hacks That Shaped The Internet | Nov 26 06:34 | |
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| schestowitz | <li> | Nov 26 10:02 |
| schestowitz | <h5><a href="https://pointieststick.com/2023/11/24/this-week-in-kde-the-plasma-6-feature-freeze-approaches/">This week in KDE: the Plasma 6 feature freeze approaches</a></h5> | Nov 26 10:02 |
| schestowitz | <blockquote> | Nov 26 10:02 |
| schestowitz | <p>At this point nearly all the planned features for Plasma 6 are done, and everyone’s focus has begun to shift to bug-fixing and polishing. People are reporting plenty of bugs (most of them fairly minor) and we’re fixing them as fast as we can! In addition to that, some larger and more notable changes went in too: [...]</p> | Nov 26 10:02 |
| schestowitz | </blockquote> | Nov 26 10:02 |
| schestowitz | </li> | Nov 26 10:02 |
| -TechBytesBot/#techbytes-pointieststick.com | This week in KDE: the Plasma 6 feature freeze approaches – Adventures in Linux and KDE | Nov 26 10:02 | |
| schestowitz | <li> | Nov 26 10:22 |
| schestowitz | <h5><a href="https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/how-to-sit-correctly-at-your-desk-to-boost-wellbeing-and-productivity-aLe464b9r5oW">How to sit correctly at your desk to boost wellbeing and productivity</a></h5> | Nov 26 10:22 |
| schestowitz | <blockquote> | Nov 26 10:22 |
| schestowitz | <p>According to the NHS, poor posture can lead to, or aggravate, back and neck pain. Improving your posture can alleviate muscle tension and studies suggest it can lead to greater work productivity. Combined with a good office chair, it can transform your working day.</p> | Nov 26 10:22 |
| schestowitz | </blockquote> | Nov 26 10:22 |
| schestowitz | </li> | Nov 26 10:22 |
| schestowitz | Nov 26 10:22 | |
| -TechBytesBot/#techbytes-www.which.co.uk | How to sit correctly at your desk to boost wellbeing and productivity - Which? News | Nov 26 10:22 | |
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